Molon Labe Industries: polymer SCAR mags

The better part of 2013 has been laced with long waiting lines, empty shelves and for the most part unbelievable prices, even on common firearm ammunition and parts. I think we’ve all felt the emotional highs and lows and sheer frustration of the whole process. As bad as that has been, for FN Herstal’s SCAR users, it has been worse. It has been virtually impossible to locate SCAR magazines.

As you probably know, there is a large group of trigger-pullers who prefer the SCAR over the popular AR and AK platforms. Members of this group range from the ‘professional shooter’ whose operational experience turned into conventional love to the regular guy who decided to purchase a new weapons platform. Magazines for this “ballistic demographic” have always been expensive and hard to come by. 2013 made finding a SCAR mag virtually impossible (and often cost prohibitive).

Enter Chris Gleason and the team at Molon Labe Industries. They took aim at this epidemic and are releasing prescribed doses of medicinal polymer to ease your suffering.

Chris was formerly a gun guy working in the corporate world. (Have I perked anyone’s ears up yet?) He had been a big fan of FN for quite some time, owning a few FN guns himself. Like other like-minded FN and SCAR users, he could never find magazines for his rifles.

So Chris ditched the suit and the “synergy” meetings, rolled his sleeves up and got to work.

Chris was an Army veteran (he served his country for 6 years) and an undergrad at the University of Massachusetts Lowell (the international leader in plastics engineering). With that background, he was no stranger to getting his hands dirty or forging new ground. He initiated a research and development plan, gathered his team and founded Molon Labe Industries in Belleair Bluffs, FL. After an R&D period lasting a little over 7 months, Chris and his staff were able to craft a finalized, approved polymer SCAR magazine prototype. That enabled them to move into mass production – this became the SCARmag.

Polymer magazines…so what? What makes the magazines produced by Molon Labe Industries different and unique from other polymer-bodied magazines on the market?

Chris answers by saying, “We use an industry-exclusive polymer for all of our magazines.” For obvious reasons, he could not disclose the specifications of this proprietary material, but I did get some facts regarding the hows and whys of its exclusivity.

The polymer used by Molon Labe Industries will not crack or break, even under circumstances where other polymer magazines on the market have failed.

The magazine body and materials are designed and produced with a very low Infrared (IR) signature.

They have been tested and will withstand extreme temperatures, as well as drastic temperature changes.

The biggest factor, in my opinion, is that the Molon Labe Industries SCARmag weighs significantly less than factory FN magazines: The 25 round MLI SCARmags actually weigh less than the factory FN 20 rounders.

Here are the specs:

20 Round Molon Labe SCARmag = 186 grams / 6.5 oz

25 Round Molon Labe SCARmag = 222 grams / 7.8 oz

20 Round Factory FN Magazine = 238 grams / 8.4 oz

We all know that ounces = pounds and pounds = pain. Anything you can do to shave a pound or two off of your kit helps tremendously in the field or on the range.

Molon Labe Industries has now been doing business for about a year. They have not forgotten about you AR-loving guys and gals out there, never fear. There are magazines in the works for the AR-15 and AR-10/SR-25 platforms as well.